Another new mechanic...

A year ago I was forgetting to put the bin out, editing, planning an unbirthday present, buying sunglasses for a stranger and receiving a strange message from a neighbour, and fighting with P4W.

Today, I finally managed to publish the automated version of the portfolio dashboard! It's only taken me a year... But part of the problem has been two projects that aren't in P4W. Now that both are (finally!) closed, it was worth making the effort to get it up and running. I shared it with my LM yesterday, who gave some feedback, and today with the rest of the project delivery team. I'll see if they have anything to say on Monday.

I also had a go at finishing off the Values & Aims report, that shows how our projects support the strategy - which is why we do projects, after all! The report has been pointed at a different data set (for good reason - the Power BI dev and I are trying to tidy up the workspaces), and some of the 'count of...' fields are gone. Monday's job is to work out how to recreate them.

I met up with a colleague I used to work closely with but now is on my coffee rota. We talked about a few things including gardens (they approve of both the mini meadow and my plans for the front), pensions (they aren't in the local government scheme because they're nervous the money won't be there when they need it - paranoia or premonition?), families, pets, and a few work adjacent things. As we were chatting, their LM (also a former colleague of mine) walked past and pulled a face like, 'what do those two have to talk about?'. Is it so surprising that we've kept in touch over the years? Or are you worried about your position? Anyway, we had far more interesting things to talk about, so soon forgot about them!

We agreed that working people really don't have time for 'real' gardening - that really is the preserve of the retired. One interesting quote - when the most boring job in the garden looks more interesting than whatever is going on at work, it's time to retire! Of course, my LM is currently building an extension to their house and doing most of the work themselves, and a former LM was always doing some DIY job or other - not gardening as such, but certainly jobs I'd willingly pay someone else to do because I have much better things to spend my time on.

There was tension over tea tonight - it should have been a chippy night, too, but husband got frustrated with how I phrased something and... Well, it didn't go well.

I played ECHH longer than planned because I stumbled into the war mechanic and had to keep going until that section was finished. It reminds me a bit of the battles in Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. I now have a base that requires development - cue memories of DAI, DAV and NNK2! But that is tomorrow's job. Thoughts on tonight:

• Garr - that's official confirmation that bad things are happening! No shit, Sherlock... But also... Talk about understatement
• Perrielle - the truth often means painfully little, especially in war. Words to live by
• Ymir just keeps getting snarkier - doth he protest too much...?
• Nowa's given up correcting him over his name
• Changing runes is a chore but at least I can do them for everyone at the inn
• Stealth mini game! Oh, yay... But the game did take pity on my terrible stealth skills, so there's that
• Garr - please don't
• The guards totally ignore the SEVEN people standing by the tent, but touch even the edge of the torchlight and they're on you
• Pohl needs to get out more
• The Dux has a democratic attitude to magic - and some residual sense of honour; still not a man to trust but more than a 2D villain
• Well thanks, Hildi...
• Imperial soldier - are you the intruders? Us? No, definitely not...
• There are too many places with names beginning with E
• I think the war mechanic will take some getting used to
• The Mercenary Creed is definitely practical

Finished off the Silurian story. Those costumes... *facepalm* I wonder where the Silurians the Doctor meets in the future are hiding?

Tomorrow is the final Friday off until August. Looking forward to a quiet day :) Although I did sort of promise myself to get the windows done...